It is generally known that electrophotographic devices (e.g., printers, copiers utilize toner to generate text and/or images on a print medium (e.g., paper, transparency media). In this regard, a toner cartridge typically stores the toner and an optical photoreceptor (xe2x80x9cOPRxe2x80x9d) is utilized to collect toner from the toner cartridge. As described in greater detail below, In a class of electrophotographic devices the toner is transferred from the OPR to an intermediate transfer device (xe2x80x9cITDxe2x80x9d) and then transferred to the print medium.
In one class of electrophotographic device, an ITD, such as, an intermediate transfer cylinder (xe2x80x9cITCxe2x80x9d), an Intermediate transfer belt (xe2x80x9cITBxe2x80x9d) or the like, is utilized to collect toner from the OPR. Following the transfer to the OPR, a scraping device is generally utilized to remove any remaining toner from the OPR. This xe2x80x9cresidual tonerxe2x80x9d generally accumulates on the leading edge of the scraping device. As additional residual toner is accumulated on the leading edge of the scraping device, this newly collected residual toner may push the previously collected residual toner into a slot. The slot generally serves as an opening for a receptacle (e.g., hopper, container, bin) where the residual toner is stored. The receptacle is typically about as wide as the toner cartridge.
Furthermore, the ITD may be configured to apply the toner to the print medium. While a majority of the toner may be transferred to the print medium, some toner may remain on the ITO. To substantially prevent the remaining toner from adversely affecting the image quality of subsequent printed content (e.g., text, images), a scraping or brushing mechanism is typically employed to essentially clean the ITD following the transfer of the toner to the print medium.
This remaining (i.e., residual) toner is typically deposited in a bin. The bin is typically either a user serviceable component or of sufficient capacity to collect residual toner for the expected life of the electrophotographic device. In this regard, a user serviceable bin may represent yet another component the user may have to purchase and/or attend to. This may increase user frustration particularly if the bin servicing procedure is messy. Alternatively, if the bin is large enough to collect residual toner over the expected life of the electrophotographic device, the size of the electrophotographic device may be inconveniently large.
In accordance with an embodiment, the invention pertains to a component for an electrophotographic device having an intermediate transfer device. This component includes a hopper configured for association with a toner cartridge. The hopper is configured to store residual toner collected from the intermediate transfer device. The hopper includes an opening configured to receive the residual toner.